I recently became inspired (I won’t say by what, or whom) to find the next big Web 2.0 application for musicians and music lovers worldwide. What I found—and I’m so glad I did—was Idiomag. If any of you know what Pandora is (and you should all know what Pandora is because it is amazing), think of Idiomag as Pandora on steroids, without the tantrums and the impotence.Idiomag is a type of news/music aggregator, but instead of a system like pageflakes, where you have to do all the work, the folks at Idiomag do all the looking for you. In late 2006 they launched their first magazine, and have been honing the site ever since then. The system is simple: you type in the bands you like, and they supply you with an online magazine filled with news and music from those bands. You can decide whether you would like just the bands you want, or recommendations from the Idiomag team based on your preferences. You can also choose the size (up to 6 articles) and frequency (as often as daily) of your mags, and the rest is done.
In terms of finding a social aspect to Idiomag, they are hoping to have a forum up and running soon where intelligent conversations about music will no doubt quickly deteriorate into flame wars over whether Joey Jordison or Neil Peart is the better drummer. Until that day, however, the creators have given us a handy little widget that we can put on our own social networking sites so that we can show all our friends how much cooler we are than them.
Aside from one-uping our friends, Idiomag is a useful tool for anyone in the music industry (or anyone interested in music) because it constantly updates the magazine with current news that is relevant to each person’s field of interest. It’s so much better than trolling the entire interweb for updates on the world of music. And the best part is, since it’s all online, we’re doing our part to save the Amazon and combat global warming.
Although the site is impressive in both its layout and content, the people responsible for it don’t seem to have let that get to their heads. The site is based in England, and the small team that runs it seems quite down to earth, as demonstrated in their wittily composed FAQ page and the fact that they are extremely receptive to help and suggestions. I would encourage all of you to browse around the site, as they have a page for everyone, from bloggers to journalists.
To get a sample of this lovely technology, feel free to check out my personal idiomag. I haven’t had the time to add many artists yet, but I put a few of my favorites and just a couple of fun ones (read: Miley Cyrus) to spice up the mix.
Since most of you probably like pretty visuals to go along with silly old words, I’ve included a video from the Idiomag folks themselves. Enjoy!
Post #2
Idiomag is my new favorite toy. It’s like a sexy, exciting version of an RSS feed. I’ve recently been accused of hating RSS feeds. I don’t know why anyone would say that; I in no way hate RSS feeds. I was starting to get a bit bored, however, so Idiomag found me at the perfect time.
I would suggest that if you have serious work to do, stick with regular RSS feeds. If, however you are like me and need a change of scenery about every four minutes, Idiomag is the perfect tool for you. The news articles it packages up for you are as relevant as any you’d find in a normal blog or news feed, but they are surrounded by lovely songs and videos that make reading the articles so much more fun.
This “online magazine” is also helpful to a person like myself because I never remember to check other news aggregators, such as Google Reader or Pageflakes. With Idiomag, however, I don’t have to remember to check anything because, much like a paper magazine, the “e-mag” is delivered to my inbox every day (or as often as I choose).
I have by no means added as many artists to my Idiomag as plan to, but to start with, I added some artists I like, many of whom are also important to watch because of the way they affect/guide the music industry:
⋆Radiohead (constantly innovating and finding new ways to produce and promote)
⋆Nine Inch Nails (constantly following Radiohead’s lead in innovation, but the awesomeness of Trent’s music is entirely original)
⋆Queens of the Stone Age (I just did this one for the interviews—Josh Homme is so funny)
⋆Marilyn Manson (I just can’t get enough of Mr. Marilyn and his covers)
⋆Coldplay (just a good band)
⋆Madonna (I can’t wait to see what happens with her 360 deal)
I also included Miley Cyrus because I believe she is an important person to watch in the music industry. (Who am I kidding; I just like her. If you don’t find anything catchy about the musical stylings of Ms. Cyrus, you need to get out of denial. Granted, it does get old after about two songs, but those first five minutes are awesome!)
My advice for my readers would be to use Idiomag as a supplement to other news aggregators. Idiomag does make direct deals with journalists, so some of their content is exclusive and could be very helpful. The format is also a welcome change from the static blogs and news articles we often drown in.
Perhaps someday all the news will be in the Idiomag format, or else Idiomag will have so many sources that we won’t have to look elsewhere. Until then, we broaden our horizons by looking in several different places. In the end, isn’t that the best way? We wouldn’t want to be guilty of gorging ourselves on news from one source. Maybe multiple sources are the only way to battle a 1984-esqe dystopia. We shall see.
Post #3
Since this slide show was originally accompanied by an extensive commentary, I've decided to include some notes for your edification.
Slide #2: These are a few points to keep in mind while you watch the slide show-- this is what Idiomag is all about. Let's take a tour of Idiomag first, then I'll explain what it's all about.
Slide #3: This is what the homepage looks like. One of the quirks with Idiomag is that they make it rather difficult to sign up for their site. On the plus side, you get to try it without signing up for anything, so if you don't like it, you haven't given your information away to anybody. At the bottom, you have the option to sign in to several music radio sites to which you might belong.
Slide #4: Unfortunately, this feature is down right now, so to get started just go ahead and click on the "Nope!" button.
Slide #5: At this point you'll be able to choose two of your favorite artists and type them into the form. Don't worry about antagonizing over just choosing two, because once you're signed up, you can add as many artists as you like.
Slide #6: Then you click on the "Try it Now" button, and it will take you to your free demo version of your first Idiomag.
Slide #7: The front page of your magazine will typically look like this. They have a table of contents so you can skip right away to the article that looks most interesting to you.
Slide #8: There is a whole toolbar on the side, where you can save the article so you can come back to it later, share it with friends, see why the folks at Idiomag decided they should include it in your daily magazine, or see more articles like it. They also have a section at the bottom where you can rate an article as "love it" or "bin it," so future magazines will beter know your tastes.
Slide #9: After you've been with Idiomag for at least a week, they build a table of contents for you, so you can see what you've accumulated over the past week. From there, you can reach any article you like, either a new one or one you saw recently that you'd like to watch again.
Slide #10: Here is what a typical article will look like in Idiomag. A lot of times the articles will be relevant to my topic of the changing world of music. Take, for example, this article about Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails (one of my favorite bands). It talks about how Trent is trying to take the music industry one step further by making a television show based on his latest album.
Slide #11: Idiomag is far from being all about business, though. At the bottom of the screen here, there is a music player that plays music based on the artists you typed in when you signed up. Just like the articles, they play music that you specifically like as well as suggestions of artists that they think you will like based on your preferences. The music comes from the Idiomag site, so you don't have to worry about glitches as long as Idiomag is up and running. You can also customize your preferences so that the music either changes to match each separate article, or continues to play on its own, uninterrupted.
Slide #12: In addition to the articles, Idiomag also includes relevant videos to complete your magazine viewing experience. The videos are either paired with a related article, or simply placed on their own as an interview or news clip.
Slide #13: If you take a closer look at this slide, we can return to our first point-- Idiomag is a news and music aggregator. This particular article was originally from Yahoo Music, but the folks at Idiomag pulled it and formatted it to fit into their magazine style.
Slide #14: Unfortunately, not every source is as reliable as Yahoo Music. Idiomag also pulls its articles from less reliable sources and writers. Take, for example, this complete sentence from an article by a staff writer at Idiomag: "brothers' band, Mecano Pig, to study music at City University." I hate to say it, but I don't see Idiomag becoming a power player in the music industry until the site becomes more streamlined and gets rid of travesties like this article.
Slide #15: If you will return to our "Points to remember" with me, you'll remember that the second point was that Idiomag helps to introduce new artists to the public consciousness. Neither Aqualung nor the Dandy Warhols were artists that I specifically stated as being favorites of mine, but Idiomag noticed that they were similar to some of the artists that I like, so they included them with the rest of my articles.
Slide #16: Part of the draw of an online magazine is its environmentalism. Idiomag takes up zero paper and thus helps to save the rainforest. If you find recycling too hard, or can't bring yourself to turn down your air conditioning, at least cancel your subscription to Blender. You'll even save money, because Idiomag is absolutely free.
Slide #17: So why is Idiomag such a big deal? What makes it better than other news aggregators? If you're like me, with the attention span of a five-year-old, you find most news aggregators boring and stuffy. Sure, the article might be interesting, but there's nothing else going on to grab your attention. Idiomag takes care of that problem by streaming exciting music and video interviews along with the articles you read. The environment is much less academic and more of good plain fun. That having been said, I would not recommend Idiomag for a serious academic project. The site is too faulty to be able to trust implicitly, although much of its material is true, interesting, and informative.
Slide #18: Let's recap-- After you submit your favorite artists, Idiomag does all the work for you, so you don't have to go searching for specific blogs and websites that match your interests. It also revolutionizes RSS feeds, adding music and a certain "zazziness" of design that updates the RSS feed for 2008.
Slide #19: If you still have doubts about Idiomag, here are some statistics from Alexa, showing how many people use it. It's still a fairly new site (launched in late 2006), but the numbers are growing.
Slide #20: Thanks so much for watching my slide show, and please check out Idiomag and my blog if you're interested!
